


break, and build again

by oriflamme



Series: robots. robots everywhere [14]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Date Night, Fluff and Crack, Multi, Sometimes you gotta go on a date with your birdfriend, Sorry Soundwave not everything is about you, Soundwave lurking in a bush that’s two sizes too small to conceal a giant robot man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 00:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12829761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oriflamme/pseuds/oriflamme
Summary: When Jazz said "date night," Soundwave doesn't know what he expected.





	break, and build again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [applechime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/applechime/gifts).



> I recently became completely, desperately convinced that Alex Milne had drawn a picture of Jazz and Laserbeak drinking out of the same milkshake while Soundwave looked on mournfully in the background. And yet _for some reason_ this image does not actually exist except in my own head. So I had to create this content _myself_.

It has been three years. Some days are better than others; some days, Soundwave almost forgets that Cybertron still exists, so far away. Compared to the desperation and urgency in those last days on Cybertron, life on Earth moves at a slow and languid pace.

Sometimes Soundwave can accept that Megatron is dead, and that Soundwave is somehow, impossibly happier this way. He has purpose, and his family, and that is more than enough. Old fragments of his loyalty protocols still prod him every so often, like sharp shards lodged at the correct angle to cut into his internal wires when he bends the wrong way. But he is well past the point where they could cripple him for hours - days. Occasionally, Soundwave even allows himself to think the things what he couldn't, when Megatron still lived, without pain.

(That Megatron was no longer recognizable. That Megatron hurt Soundwave, more deeply than he realized at the time, and would have done worse if he had lived. That Megatron's cruelty and abuse poisoned everything that their cause once stood for. That what the Decepticons did, once they won, was inexcusable.)

Today, Laserbeak shuffles restlessly from one claw to the other after she alights on Soundwave's shoulder to greet him. She and Buzzsaw return from their latest sweep at the same time, and it is a joy to see Laserbeak wheeling freely through the sky, the plates of her wings gleaming proud and unbent in the light of Earth's star. When he scratches beneath her chin, she chirps and presses the side of her head to Soundwave's jaw - but it is a distracted gesture. The link between them reveals little more than a swirl of flustered anticipation, which built over the course of the past week. The two symbiotes report nothing out of the ordinary in their sweep of this small segment of North America.

Yet it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore Laserbeak's nervous fluttering as she darts around their lodgings. Soundwave cannot tell whether she's seeking a particular vantage point, or is simply too energized to sit still. Buzzsaw attempts to admonish her whenever she passes too close to him, one optic fixed upon her with a sour stare, but Laserbeak does not pause long enough for him to successfully pin her. "Laserbeak, distracted," Soundwave says, chiding, but Laserbeak fails to respond to the unspoken query. She shrugs it off with a deliberate clack of her beak, and resumes her flitting circuit of the converted warehouse that serves as their temporary living quarters. Every so often, she pauses to preen already glossy wing panels, her posture anything but contrite.

After a mere half hour of this, Soundwave struggles to retain any kind of focus. Ravage lingers on the roof upon his return, a silent _no_ rolling through the link as the symbiont flatly refuses to deal with whatever has Laserbeak so keyed up. Shortly afterward, Soundwave's sensors alert him to Rumble and Frenzy's return, and half a second later the distant, distinctive thump of human music playing on a Cybertronian sound system reaches him. Laserbeak (finally) lands on the back of the chair nearest the front window and zooms her optics in and out to scan the road leading up to their location. It is not uncommon for Rumble and Frenzy to rendezvous with Jazz on their way home, and Jazz rolls up with the two in tow, music still blasting from his speakers as he walks in with a grin.

"Patrol, successful?" Soundwave asks aloud, for Jazz's benefit. Rumble and Frenzy are already chattering at top speed as they make a break for the couch and their set of hacked human video games; Soundwave can see streaks of something _sticky_ and undoubtedly organic on their armor, and cycles air through his vents in a sigh before moving to intercept them with a silent rebuke.

Jazz snorts and tosses off a casual salute, his smile wry as he steps in close. Soundwave dips his helm until their foreheads touch. It has taken them some time to establish common ground in which touch is acceptable and welcome on both sides; it remains, like many things in Soundwave's new life, a work in progress. There are still days when Jazz does not return at all, spending long nights and days cruising the interstate roads with his radios tuned only to human frequencies, and Soundwave can only trust, and wait. "Yup. All clear on the western front," Jazz says, with a dry twist in his voice.

Before Soundwave can question his wording - so far as he was aware, Jazz intended to explore the mountain roads to the north today - Jazz steps back out of arm's reach and claps his hands together. He pivots deftly on his heels, in a movement too sharp for Soundwave to ever imitate. "And now - date night!" he adds, snapping his fingers and pointing back toward the door.

It takes a long moment for Soundwave to process the human phrase - this local language, in particular, is one fraught with idiom and borrowed words - and to realize what it refers to in this context. "Jazz, wishes to go out on a social appointment," Soundwave says, tentatively. Frenzy emits a whistling sound that leaves him and Rumble beside themselves with laughter; at least they fall in a heap on the ground, rather than the couch.

Jazz pauses halfway back to the door. His visor resets itself in a flickering blink. "Oh, no. Sorry, I was talking to Laserbeak," he says.

Buzzsaw squawks, jolted out of his irritable sulk in a flash. Laserbeak, in the middle of a last-minute attempt to groom her rectrices, clicks with excitement and wings over to Jazz's shoulder, her symbiont link radiating a thrill of excitement, relief at no longer concealing the source of her anticipation, and no small amount of smugness. Behind Soundwave, Rumble's helm thunks against the ground in surprise. _Date night,_ Laserbeak croons, sidling on her new perch until she's tucked up close next to Jazz's helm.

Jazz raises his hand to scratch one of Laserbeak's favorite spots, then shoots Soundwave a look that Soundwave estimates to be one part apologetic to two parts unrepentant mischief. "Next time, I promise! Don't worry, I'll have her back before midnight," he calls over his shoulder, as he sails right back out the door.

Suddenly, Soundwave understands why Laserbeak requested extra wax during their routine maintenance the night before.

-

Jazz and Laserbeak travel first to one of Jazz's many ( _many_ ) bolt holes to retrieve supplies, and then sojourn to a local drive in theater. Jazz plays yet more human music all the way to their final location, with Laserbeak turning loops and performing aerial maneuvers beside him in time to the beat, occasionally flitting ahead of him so that she can pretend to drive Jazz into backing up. When they arrive, the entire back quarter of the drive-in theater noticeably lacks any human vehicles, and the few that arrive after Jazz and Laserbeak set up in the back row hit the brakes with a screech and peel back out the way they came.

Of course, with such short notice, this leaves Soundwave very little time to assess the site and ensure that the area is secure for the evening. Rumble and Frenzy hiss and argue amongst themselves with no subtlety as they ensure the grounds are clear; Buzzsaw lurks on a powerline two streets over, sulking with renewed vigor as he keeps watch from above. Ravage simply repeated _NO_ when Soundwave attempted to coax him down from the roof to assist them, and Soundwave had quite wisely not pressed the matter further.

Neither Jazz nor Laserbeak can be unaware of the surveillance. _Rude_ , Laserbeak huffs, with a mental pout directed at all of them. Then she takes inspiration from Jazz as he blatantly ignores Soundwave's presence down the road for the duration of the two hour long movie. Jazz sips energon while holding one hand out so that Laserbeak can rest on his wrist, pecking crunchy fragments of energon crystals from his palm. Both of them appear to be thoroughly engrossed in the film, and when the two hours are up, vacate the back row so that the humans can leave without incident. Buzzsaw has to be called back and reprimanded before he will follow them at a discreet distance instead of shadowing Laserbeak's every move. Soundwave follows more slowly, and takes up a position just around the corner several minutes after Jazz and Laserbeak set up next to a human diner with garish lighting and chipped paint. The diner, naturally, cannot provide anything a Cybertronian system can consume; such places are still few and far between. Jazz produces a frosted energon beverage from his subspace and sets it on the overhanging roof of the building. Laserbeak lands across from him, her chirps and Jazz's laughter audible from Soundwave's position behind an insufficient barrier of organic plant matter, and they begin to drink from two large curly straws, Jazz resting his chin on his hand.

At least three humans step out of the diner to gawk at them, though Jazz has canted one leg so that there's plenty of room for their vehicles to pass around him. Soundwave discards all of them as irrelevant after a quick threat analysis. There was a time when Cybertronians might have concealed their presence on Earth with some sense of caution, but that time has long since passed.

Only one human approaches Soundwave's location. Soundwave, kneeling, pays no heed to the organic, more focused on Frenzy, Rumble, and Buzzsaw's periodic updates and his own observations. The frosted treat is dusted with energon crystal fragments around the rim, and Laserbeak crunches on them with obvious delight. Despite the terrible lighting, Jazz looks in his element lounging against the edge of the human establishment. He flicks one fallen crumb of energon crystal directly at Soundwave with unfailing accuracy - _I see you_ \- and then offers the next crumb to Laserbeak with a soft smile. Laserbeak pecks Jazz on the cheek affectionately before accepting.

The human closest to Soundwave stands there long enough for Soundwave to look down, his visor unreadable as he waits for the human to move. Normally, any amount of direct optic contact from a being that dwarfs them is enough to dissuade any human from loitering.

Instead, the human glances from Soundwave to Jazz and Laserbeak, and then back again.

"That's rough, buddy," the human says, at last, and then gingerly pats Soundwave on the foot with something approximating sympathy.

It's going to be a long night.

**Author's Note:**

> ...And here is where I would put a link to that non-existent art. If, you know, _it existed_. 
> 
> Jazz is semi-ironically playing songs from Grease while with Laserbeak, though [You're The One That I Want](https://youtu.be/7oKPYe53h78?t=55s) is what was stuck in my head for half of this.
> 
> Also partially inspired by [this post.](http://rose-ebottles.tumblr.com/post/165710542078/this-post-is-good) The sentiment is there, anyway.


End file.
